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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22574371">Living Like This</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agmo/pseuds/Agmo'>Agmo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Were It So Simple [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dom/sub, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:49:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>368</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22574371</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agmo/pseuds/Agmo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaby understood. Sort of.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Were It So Simple [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>96</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Living Like This</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is not a standalone. Best head back to the start of the Were It So Simple series and catch up.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gaby understood. Sort of. I mean, she was unmarked, so she could only understand on an intellectual level. But even with her over-abundance of empathy and understanding for her two dummkopf partners, this was getting to be too much. </p>
<p>If Illya stormed and raged, if he asked to be reassigned, she would understand. Napoleon had violated his trust profoundly by issuing him an order when they were not together. She could understand that much. </p>
<p>And if Napoleon had decided, enough already, and just commanded Illya to be his, well, he’d be an asshole. But far from an aberrant dom. She could imagine the restraint it took to live day in and out so close to his soulmate and not make the man his. She could understand. </p>
<p>But this was absolutely absurd. </p>
<p>Following the revelation in Paris - that these men were soulmates, that they had known and yet did not consummate that bond, that Gaby had learned this in such a jaw-droppingly spectacular display of non-consensual dominance... I mean, holy shit. This should have destroyed them. </p>
<p>But it didn’t. </p>
<p>They were fine?</p>
<p>I mean, they weren’t. The distance and silence set her own teeth clenching, let alone must they must be feeling. Dear god, the repression. It was not good and it hurt to live like this.</p>
<p>But they completed the Paris affair, and then a mission that brought them back to Istanbul, and another that dragged them to every hole in the wall town in South America. They worked smoothly and efficiently together for months. They did their jobs so well Waverly even complimented them that one time. </p>
<p>But Illya and Napoleon didn’t speak beyond anything required for mission planning and parameters. They didn’t show off or lord over each other, they didn't even squabble over time with Gaby. It was all so restrained. But underneath she could feel the seething. What a fucking Cold War metaphor she had on her hands. </p>
<p>Gaby missed Napoleon’s rakish charm. She missed Illya’s sweetness and jokes, flirty in his own way. She missed her boys and she missed who she had the chance to be when they were all at their best.</p>
<p>She thanked god again that she was born unmarked.</p>
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